For me, a game guide is a way to maximize my gaming progress/time. For example, which pokemon are in this area? I could fight two hundred battles and hope I see them all, or I could find a guide. Where are the last five blast shards in InFamous? I could randomly wander through the entire city, or I could look at a map and systematically look at all of the spots where they are.

Addendum to my previous post: I, by principal, will not acquire any strategy guide that spends most of its pages telling me to check out the company's website, regardless of the quality of the art therein.